


A Kaiba Carol

by DragonSorceress22



Series: Tra-Verse [3]
Category: Yu-Gi-Oh! - All Media Types, Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters (Anime & Manga)
Genre: Christmas, Don't copy to another site, Established Relationship, Fluff, M/M, One Shot, Prideshipping, post dsod, some Kaiba bros fluff cause I really can't help myself
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-05
Updated: 2019-01-05
Packaged: 2019-10-04 14:05:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,102
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17305988
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DragonSorceress22/pseuds/DragonSorceress22
Summary: It’s the first Christmas since Seto started dating Atem. Some things have changed. Many have not.





	A Kaiba Carol

**Author's Note:**

> This fic brought to you by [solomonara](http://archiveofourown.org/users/solomonara/pseuds/solomonara/works)’s influence and beta reading. It’s all her fault. 
> 
> This was originally meant to follow the structure of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol but, just like every other prompt I’ve ever pursued, it wandered off at some point. Oh well.

He appeared with no notice or pageantry. There was no sound, no movement, and yet Gozaburo Kaiba appeared. Ragged and wretched, he stood before the executive desk in the top floor office suite of the Kaiba Corp skyscraper, the red suit he’d died in now hanging in stiff shreds caked with blood. His shoes were missing, and his gaze, once an unyielding force, now rested vaguely on the desk before him.

He was there when Seto happened to look up from his computer.

Seto felt the reaction all through his body – alarm, hate, disgust, and that little bit of fear he could never seem to shake. Not a flicker of it showed on his face or in his posture. He returned his eyes to his screen.

“I don’t have time for you,” Seto said, and for all that he said it blandly, it was also murmured half under his breath – an admission of his uncertainty that what he’d seen was real.

“I’m in hell because of you,” Gozaburo replied, and when Seto glanced up again he realized Gozaburo’s stare was so vacant because the man could not see. He allowed himself a longer look then, cataloging Gozaburo’s state in full.

“Any hell you’ve achieved,” Seto said coldly. Steadily. “You’ve achieved on your own.” A smirk curled his lips then. He was confident that, though it might go unseen, it would be clear enough in his voice. “I couldn’t possibly take the credit, as much as I’d like to.”

Blank grey eyes suddenly focused, locked at the level of Seto’s face though still unseeing. “We’re not so different,” Gozaburo said, and Seto scoffed reflexively. “You’ll end up just like me. It’s a matter of time. Perhaps,” he added with a nasty grin. “Someday Mokuba will do to you what you did to me.”

Seto’s jaw clenched and he stood, careful not to let his anger out with the motion. “I wasn’t aware that hell allowed such extended leaves of absence. They must be missing you. Will you be taking the elevator this time or would you like to give the window another go?”

He stepped around his desk and immediately Gozaburo rushed him. A thick hand caught Seto’s throat and squeezed as Gozaburo shoved him back against the floor-to-ceiling windows that made up the wall behind the desk. When Seto gripped Gozaburo’s arm, the tattered suit sleeve fell away beneath his fingers, crumbling like ash. He tried again, clutching and desperate, but the exposed flesh of Gozaburo’s arm tore away just the same, gouges in the shapes of Seto’s fingers sinking straight through to unyielding bone. Gozaburo’s grip did not let up.

Seto’s mouth opened, the sound escaping maybe horrified, maybe disgusted, but certainly pained and small. He could hear the glass cracking behind his skull, feel it fracturing along the line of his shoulders as Gozaburo pushed. He could sense the pressure of the far drop just waiting on the other side of that pane and Seto gripped harder through crumbling flesh to clutch at bone, determined, at least, to take Gozaburo with him.

He woke with the shattering of the glass.

 

At the Kaiba mansion, in his room, in his bed, Seto reined in his breathing and eased open sore hands clenched tight around creased blankets. He was laid out flat on the mattress, the pillows behind him skewed to either side. Slowly, he rolled over and propped himself up, the chill of the air hitting sweat-damp pajamas.

It took him longer than he would have admitted to drag himself from the bed and make it to his connected bathroom to wash off the evidence of the dream. Still, he felt better once he had. With a glance at the clock, he opted for slacks and a button down instead of a fresh set of pajamas, and settled in with his laptop in the armchair in the corner of his room.

His door creaked slowly open just as the computer booted.

“Nii-sama,” Mokuba said, peeking in. “You’re awake?”

“So are you,” Seto replied.

The lack of dismissal was the same as an invitation and Mokuba stepped into the dark room. Sharp eyes took in the disheveled bed and his brother’s damp hair. He went to the window and gazed out of it, his hands folded neatly behind his back.

“I had a dream, Nii-sama,” Mokuba started steadily. He’d grown into an executive as easily as breathing, taking command somewhere between one day and the next. He was no longer a child, not even with Seto. He was a teenager, sharp and quick and deserving of his role as VP of Kaiba Corp. He held his head up and watched Seto tense in the computer light reflected on the dark windowpane. “I dreamed that we’d learned our lesson,” Mokuba went on. “That we wouldn’t put work before family and friends, or make it the most important thing in our lives, because we’d seen where that leads.” He turned from the window and a smile softened his voice. “It’s Christmas, Nii-sama. Let’s go downstairs. We can play chess ‘til morning then sleep all afternoon.”

“Why would we do that?” Seto asked. He was already shutting down the laptop though.

“Because tonight we’re inviting Yuugi and all his friends to have dinner with us.”

Seto paused in the act of standing up, frozen for a moment above the seat of the chair. Belatedly, he finished the motion and set the laptop aside. “And why would we do _that_?”

Mokuba grinned. “Because it’s _Christmas_.”

 

By some Christmas miracle, Seto did _not_ have to spend that night with Jounouchi, Shizuka, Honda, Mai, or Otogi, who all had better things to do than accept a short-notice invite from the Kaiba brothers on Christmas day. He did, however, end up flying himself, Mokuba, Yuugi, and Bakura out to New York to get dinner with Anzu.

Halfway through dessert, Anzu was busy giggling over the wealthy women the next table over. The women were busy trying to get Bakura’s attention, tossing out winks and waves while Bakura cringed and demanded under his breath to know what Anzu kept saying to them in English. Yuugi took advantage of the opportunity.

“So Kaiba-kun,” he started, and Seto had to actively keep himself from growling in response to his cheery attitude. “How was Christmas Eve with Atem?”

“I wasn’t _with_ Atem yesterday,” he replied.

He was wholly unprepared for the look of intense hurt and horror that appeared on Yuugi’s face. Seto flinched and a ripple of defensiveness prompted him to add, “What importance does Christmas Eve hold for a five thousand year old pharaoh?”

“Kaiba-kun,” Yuugi said, so distinctly patronizing that Seto bristled and Mokuba, listening in, cringed. “Nothing will change the fact that my partner was raised in ancient Egypt and brought up to be pharaoh, but just because he has those memories back now doesn’t mean the memories he made with us go away. He was a modern Japanese teenager, and for a couple years that was _all_ he knew. A Christmas Eve date would still mean something to him.”

Mokuba looked up at Seto. “Nii-sama…”

It took a few moments of silence, just for the sake of his pride, but Seto caved. “Tch. Fine,” he said. “But time flows differently over there. I don’t think it’s even Christmas.”

But still, Yuugi was smiling and Mokuba looked like the cat that got the cream and Seto was avoiding eye contact with them both, so all was right with the world.

 

Seto was quiet the rest of the night. Mokuba assured Yuugi that it was his “deep in thought” silence rather than his “scorning you all” silence, which Yuugi accepted fairly easily (even after Seto nearly left Bakura behind on the flight back to Japan out of sheer distraction).

The next day, Seto let Mokuba know he would be heading up to the space station to work on some undisclosed project. He stayed there for days, deeply immersed in his work, only resting when Mokuba would stop by with food.

Mokuba knew better than to try to intervene. He just did his part to make Seto’s effort a little more reasonable until whatever was on his mind was finally completed.

Then, inexplicably, Seto returned to Earth.

 

“So,” Mokuba started casually, standing in Seto’s office at Kaiba Corp two days later. “What was it you were working on up on the space station, Nii-sama?” he asked.

“Nothing of consequence,” Seto replied.

 _Nothing to do with work then,_ Mokuba interpreted. _So it_ has _to be something to do with Atem._ “I figured you’d go to see Atem by now,” he tried again. “Didn’t you agree that a Christmas Eve date was something you should do?” He watched Seto carefully but he hardly reacted.

“I will,” he said with conviction. “In a few days.”

Mokuba tipped his head to the side. “Did you figure out when Christmas would actually be happening over there or something?”

This time Seto smirked. “No, nothing like that. That’s just the soonest I could make it work on short notice. You can stop worrying, Mokuba. I’ve got everything planned out.”

 

A few days later, Mokuba was particularly anxious as he stood by on the space station. Seto was calm as ever. He activated his interdimensional implant and settled into the pod that would take him once again on the gut-wrenching, soul-grasping journey to Atem’s world. Everything was going according to plan.

 

It was still dark when Seto arrived, lighting gracefully on his feet on Atem’s balcony. Beside him, Yuugi gasped on touch-down and collapsed to his knees, his face pale in the purple glow of his new dimension suit’s circuitry.

“That… That was _horrible_ ,” Yuugi panted, a hand pressed to his heart. “Is that what it’s like for you every ti– _mmph_!”

Seto had dragged Yuugi to his feet again, pressed a hand over his mouth, and shoved him toward the edge of the balcony, out of view of the opening to the bedroom. “It’s better than the alternative,” he murmured under his breath.

“Who’s there?”

The voice from the bedroom was rich with command and Yuugi’s eyes widened over Seto’s hand. Seto shushed him with a look and left him against the wall as he stepped into the opening. “It’s just me.”

“Seto.” Everything about Atem softened at the sight of him. Seto met him halfway as he started forward, and leaned down to meet his kiss. “It seemed longer that you were away this time,” Atem murmured. “Have you been busy?”

“In a way,” Seto replied. “Did you know it was Christmas?”

Emotion flashed through Atem’s eyes. Realization. Nostalgia. A hint of sadness and longing. “Ah,” he said. “Christmas. I imagine Mokuba will have kept you from skipping it? How is everyone doing?”

“Your ridiculous friends are fine,” Seto said. “I saw Mazaki and Bakura just the other day, in New York.”

Atem smirked. “Bakura was in New York?” he said skeptically. “You flew him out to see her, didn’t you. And you wouldn’t do that for just Bakura, so Yuugi must have come along.” Seto’s sour silence was answer enough and Atem breathed out a laugh. “How is he?” he asked, earnest.

Seto let out a sigh. “See for yourself,” he answered, and before Atem could even begin to wrap his mind around that, Yuugi stepped in from the balcony behind Seto. Atem froze, staring.

“Been a while,” Yuugi said, and Seto rolled his eyes at how sheepish and meek Yuugi could still manage to be sometimes, even now, magically transported to an ancient Egyptian land of the dead and decked out in Kaiba tech that Seto himself had custom-built by hand. The lights all through the black suit were stark in the desert moonlight, and soul energy had gathered close across Yuugi’s back and shoulders, the same warm, welcoming purple as his eyes.

Atem finally released the breath locking up his chest and looked up at Seto. “What did you do?”

“It was Christmas,” Seto answered. “And I knew there was only one thing you’d want that only I could provi– oh my god you’re crying.”

Tears had indeed welled in Atem’s eyes and quietly spilled free. Seto put a hand over his own face, unsure of what to do with that reaction. Only a moment later, though, Atem reached up and tugged Seto’s arm back down to meet his eyes.

“Thank you,” he said, and his voice broke but when he repeated it, it was fierce. “ _Thank_ _you_ , Seto.” He dragged him down into a kiss again and Yuugi casually turned to gaze up at the moon, though he couldn’t help smiling.

Once Atem let Seto go, Seto rolled his eyes again and stepped around him to drop onto the bed. “Don’t you two have some catching up to do?” he asked, folding his hands behind his head.

Atem smiled and looked back to Yuugi. “Aibou,” he whispered, and Yuugi grinned before the air was suddenly knocked out of him by a crushing hug. “Aibou,” Atem murmured again, right beside Yuugi’s ear, and Yuugi suddenly realized they were the same height now. He wrapped his arms around Atem and held tight.

“Merry Christmas, oth– Atem.”

 

Yuugi and Atem talked well past daybreak, just sitting on the floor of Atem’s bedroom. Seto had long since fallen asleep listening to them, and Yuugi wasn’t one to pass up chances.

“Hey, wanna know something about Kaiba-kun I bet he’s never told you?” he whispered, his face alight with conspiratorial joy.

“You’d be surprised the things he’s told me,” Atem replied with a smirk, but he nodded Yuugi on.

“Just tonight though,” Yuugi said. “When we arrived. The trip between dimensions is _terrifying_ , Atem. I’ll admit; it’s painful and frightening. But what Kaiba-kun said after that… I asked if he went through that every time and he basically told me being without you is worse.”

Atem was staring again, his eyes wide, and Yuugi could see color creeping in on his skin in the morning sunlight. Atem had known what the interdimensional travel was like – had asked Seto about it often enough that Seto had told him in length about his methods and how they’d progressed through to the implant Seto now bore. But none of the methods could change the stress of the travel while _between_ the dimensions. Atem had accepted that only after Seto’s assurances that no detectable damage was being done to his body or soul. They’d left it at that. He’d never once thought to interpret it _that way_.

“Who knew Kaiba-kun was such a romantic,” Yuugi laughed, then jumped with a yelp at the voice from the bed.

“You’re twisting my words,” Seto said groggily. He pushed himself upright and glared at the two of them across the room, shoving a hand through his mussed hair. “Don’t piss me off – I’m your way home.”

“Threaten my partner and there will be hell to pay,” Atem said casually.

“So you’ve demonstrated,” Seto replied, unimpressed.

“I have a question, though, Seto,” Atem added, and Yuugi was fascinated by the simultaneous concern and trust he could see in Atem’s eyes. “You’ve assured me of the safety of the interdimensional implant, but I know there was more than just the one reason you developed that technology past the need for a suit.”

“‘Just the one’?” Yuugi wondered aloud. The way Atem’s eyes darted to Yuugi and Seto’s eyes darted away abruptly made the connection in Yuugi’s head. Seto had told him back on the space station that Yuugi could not, under any circumstances, remove the suit while they were in the other dimension. “Oh,” he murmured, face pink. “Yeah, how ‘bout that, what was the other reason, Kaiba-kun?” he asked, much more loudly than necessary.

Seto sighed. “The implant,” he began, voice grating, “ _Is_ safer. The system is less vulnerable and the protection more complete.” He stood and walked over to where they were sitting. “I’m not losing energy anymore, but Yuugi.” He reached for the cloth draped over a nearby mirror and tugged it aside. Yuugi caught sight of his own reflection then turned sharply to look behind himself. “The suit controls it, but that cloud across your back is evidence that it’s still happening.”

“You’re safe, aibou,” Atem promised. His hand came to rest on Yuugi’s knee. “Seto used this method often enough before developing the implant. I just wanted to know the whole story, and to make sure you’d been told all this as well.”

“He did,” Yuugi replied quickly. “He told me everything.”

“I made him sign a waiver,” Seto said, and got twin glowering looks for his trouble.

“It’s just another thing to see it,” Yuugi finished.

“The suit is fine for visits now and then,” Seto continued. “But that’s it. Unless you wouldn’t mind being implanted with Kaiba Corp tech?” he added to Yuugi. His grin was knowing and it was Atem’s turn to roll his eyes.

“Not a chance,” Yuugi replied.

“I thought so.”

 

The day was growing dark again and Yuugi was looking just a little worse for wear, tired and hoarse from talking nonstop with Atem. They agreed it was time that he returned, but Atem pulled Seto aside first.

“You’re going back with him?” he asked. His opinion of that was written all over his face.

“I’m responsible for bringing him here. I won’t throw him back and assume it’s fine.”

Atem glanced over his shoulder at Yuugi in alarm.

“Nothing will happen regardless,” Seto assured him. “I just want to make sure Mokuba is on the station to get him home once he arrives.”

“Then,” Atem said, murmured low. “This is selfish to ask but, once Yuugi gets home safely… would you come back?”

Seto blinked down at him in surprise. Atem had always acknowledged the difficulty of the travel and respected Seto’s time. He couldn’t remember Atem ever making such a request.

Seto’s hand slid against Atem’s cheek and he leaned in for a kiss. “Of course,” he answered quietly. “After all, this world is yours. If you say so, then this is Christmas.”

His fingers traced lightly across Atem’s cheek as he walked away to stand at Yuugi’s side. “Ready?” he asked, cold and emotionless in an instant.

“Uh, sure,” Yuugi replied, and just as Seto was about to activate the transfer he added under his breath with a cheeky grin, “You dog.”

“I will push you out of the station airlock if you breathe a word of _any_ of this to a living soul,” Seto replied readily.

And then they were gone.

**Author's Note:**

> You know, I never really thought I’d write more after the initial story in this series but… DAMMIT IT’S FUN lol I hope y’all enjoyed :3
> 
> P.S. can’t believe I managed to post not one but two Christmas fics actually within the twelve days of Christmas. Must be the ficpocalypse. Apocafic? Whatever. That.


End file.
